05.31.09
Atheism And It’s Critics
by To the Best of Our Knowledge – Wisconsin Public Radio – 080622
From Dawkins site
http://wpr.org/book/080622a.html
Atheists have been called the most hated minority in America. And yet recent atheist manifestos by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris have all made the best-seller list. So have these atheists changed our thinking about religion? We’ll talk about he New Atheism with Richard Dawkins and two of his critics in the time hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.
SEGMENT 1:
John Haught is a Catholic theologian at Georgetown University who’s written a polemical response to the so-called “new atheists.” He tells Steve Paulson that they simply don’t measure up to the old atheists like Nietzsche and Camus. Haught’s books include “God after Darwin” and “God and the New Atheism.” The world’s most famous atheist, Richard Dawkins, author of “The God Delusion,” visits with Steve Paulson and demonstrates why he’s been called “Darwin’s rottweiler. And, Alister McGrath, a historical theologian at Oxford, shares Dawkins’ interest in science, but little else. He and Steve talk about the role of religious zealotry. McGrath’s book’s include “The Dawkins Delusion” and “Christianity’s Dangerous Idea.”
SEGMENT 2:
Jenny Phillips is the director of the documentary film “The Dhamma Brothers.” The film tells the story of a program which brought several Buddhist teachers to maximum security Donaldson Correctional Facility in Alabama to train a group of inmates in Vapassana meditation. Phillips tells Anne Strainchamps that the course was an intense, grueling ten day experience that changed some of the inmates’ lives forever.
SEGMENT 3:
Brad Hirschfield was once a religious fanatic. He was one of a small number of Jewish settlers living in Hebron, in the middle of thousands of Palestinians. Now he’s a rabbi and the author of a book called “You Don’‘t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right.” He tells Jim Fleming how he tries to preach a message of faith without fanaticism.
Listen to MP3
http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/4787204/510011/104750922/PUB_104750922.mp3?_kip_ipx=831525677-1243786103
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http://wpr.org/book/080622a.html
James said,
May 31, 2009 at 1:06 pm
“He tells Steve Paulson that they simply don’t measure up to the old atheists like Nietzsche and Camus.”
Give me a break. Why don’t they ever mention Schopenhauer? Nietzsche and Camus can’t hold a candle to him.
James said,
May 31, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Actually, I think I know the answer: these theologians want to associate “atheism” with some dumbed down version (even as they praise Nietzsche for being smarter than the New Atheists) so it is easier to knock down. It is a ploy to present Nietzsche as the spokesperson for “atheism” in order to prove that it leads to all sorts of pernicious views.
Darwiniana » New atheists and Nietzsche? said,
May 31, 2009 at 5:12 pm
[...] Comment on Atheism and its Critics James said, May 31, 2009 at 1:06 pm · “He tells Steve Paulson that they simply don’t measure up to the old atheists like Nietzsche and Camus.” Give me a break. Why don’t they ever mention Schopenhauer? Nietzsche and Camus can’t hold a candle to him. [...]